Biography

Joel Sindelar is a musician, conductor, and teacher living in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. In 2012, along with two other local musicians, he created a community choir and band for families, SingPositive, which is now in its 8th season with a membership of 40 adults and 20 children.

In addition to his work at SingPositive, he created the music program at the Italian Home for Children school in Jamaica Plain, and is founder and organizer of the Boston Christmas Caroling Mob, a mass choral event that brings 70-100+ carolers into the streets every Christmas season. Previous to SingPositive, he was the inaugural conductor of the Newton Family Singers, and founded and conducted two other JP choruses: the Loose Canon Chorale and the Churchless Church Choir.

​As a singer, Sindelar is a member of the virtuoso vocal ensemble The Other Georgia, which has performed at Balkan festivals and concerts across New England, and as a saxophonist, he is a member of the Afro-Pop band Kalifa & Koliba. You can check The Other Georgia's first album on iTunes here, and Koliba's music here.

​Mr. Sindelar is a third generation musician, teacher, and scientist; he graduated from MIT with a Bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology, and from New England Conservatory with a Master's degree in Choral Conducting. His primary conducting teachers and mentors were Tamara Brooks and Lorna Cooke deVaron.

Press

​SingPositive

Community chorus brings music to JP • Jamaica Plain Gazette
​​A new all-ages community chorus, SingPositive!, aims to bring music to Jamaica Plain's art scene. "Jamaica Plain has so many artists, musicians and community-oriented residents, but no community chorus" until now...

Caroling Mob

The Song Remains the Same • Once passe, Christmas carolers are back, and striking a welcome note in the city • Boston Globe
"It's not by any means common," says Joel Sindelar, who leads caroling groups in Jamaica Plain, including today's fifth annual Boston Merry Christmas Caroling Mob. "And because people don't see them as much as they used to, it's doubly powerful when you carol these days."

A Caroling Mob Takes To the City Streets  • Singers spread holiday joy in neighborhood • Boston Globe
It's not the first place one would expect to find 50 Christmas Carolers – the produce section of Stop and Shop – but that was the whole idea. 

Churchless Church Choir

Churchless church choir’ a portal to heavenly music • Secular-minded singers welcome at JP group • Boston Globe
With 60 copies of sheet music in hand and no idea who or how many people might show up, 34-year-old Joel Sindelar optimistically hauled his keyboard and guitar in on his ''modified mountain bike" for the first rehearsal of his Churchless Church Choir on March 6...​

​Waking Up • Theme of Program: The Church Within • Hallmark Channel's New Morning program
​Joel Sindelar was studying molecular biology at MIT when he decided to try singing in the university choir. The voice, they say, is the barometer of the soul and what started as a hobby soon became a passion for Joel. Now he's a choir director himself - and one of his favorite groups is for people who -- no matter what other jobs they have -- find their souls when they sing. They call themselves the Churchless Church Choir...

Loose Canon Chorale

​JP-based chorus brings guerilla approach to music  • Jamaica Plain Bulletin
​At the JP Open Studios a few weeks ago, there was one performance not on the schedule. A group of 16 men and women spontaneously burst into song in the middle of a Unitarian church, leaving bystanders in awe and wondering what hit them...